Why wait until their senior year to develop your captains? ?? Captains Part 4 of 4

The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership‘ – Harvey S. Firestone

Do you train your captains on how to lead?

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Then when those captains move on, do you feel like you are starting all over again?

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Here is a way to take your leadership development to the next level:

Don’t wait until they are a junior or senior, when they become captain, to start training them. Instead – develop an emerging leader group.

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Identify some leaders at each age level, and establish a big bother/big sister mentoring relationship. Work closely with your captains and more elder players to challenge them to teach leadership skills to their younger mentees.

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One tip in doing this – eliminate the words ‘freshmen,’ ‘sophomore,’ etc. from your team’s vocabulary. These are divisive words. These players are your teammates. Nothing more, nothing less.

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The most important way your captains and elder leaders will teach them, just like you as a coach, is through their actions, not their words. Carry the water. Pick up the trash. Encourage someone struggling.

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Not only will setting up these mentor relationships help the young leaders grow, the elder mentors will typically develop a sense of pride and take on more responsibility as they sense the importance of their role.

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As we wrap up our series on captains, do this:

1 – Train your captains on how to lead

2 – Train your future captains on how to lead from Day 1 entering your program